> One of the first questions people ask when we say we are doing a spring batch is what letter we will use to refer to it since “S” is already taken for the summer batch. We considered something like “Sp” or “P” but one founder made the suggestion of using “X” since it's a common variable name in programming and thus makes sense since the name “Y Combinator” itself is a programming term.
This chain of reasoning seems totally disconnected? "While trying to come up with a single letter to denote spring, since S was taken, we decided on... a common variable name instead" ??? what happened to denoting spring in there? Am I missing some clever reference? Is spring in particular the season for common variables?
The spring constant (in physics) is denoted by the letter "k", why not use that? I know its not programming, but at least it denotes spring.
I would just take the opportunity to rename all batched 1,2,3,4 and call the batches yc25 etc to denote all batches in 2025 etc. who cares what season you are in at this point. But this is just me.
I think you may need to review what that word means in case you have an incorrect belief about its definition. Almost all notation ever created has a reason or a system, I have no idea why one would think its ultimately arbitrary (having no reason or system).
Consensus is not arbitrary either, that's a strong reason, a lack of arbitrary-ness. Even the second definition of arbitrary, something done unilaterally, is contra-consensus.
I learned a while back that Miercoles is a minced oath in Spanish. As in, you start to say the other thing that starts with Mier--, make eye contact with a child, and say the other thing.
In MTG the 5 colors are white, blue, black, red, and green. WUBRG. B is already taken by black (bla > blu) so blue became U. Hence in my head logic spring should have been G (technically sp > su but no point to change summer’s S after decades)
I think SP would have been the best. The thing about W25 or S25 is that you can guess what W or S means without being told. Can you imagine trying to explain this to someone? There's nothing about it that makes sense. There's no kernel of intuition to chew on. You'd finish explaining and the other person still wouldn't get it.
"What batch were you?"
"X25"
"What does X stand for?"
"Oh yeah haha, its a clever programming reference, it actually means spring, but S was taken by summer, so they used X instead because its a common variable name."
Most likely by the time you are asked “what batch were you?” Anyone that would be asking that question is going to be familiar with the naming convention whatever it is
Our startup(from India) applied twice last two batches, and were rejected but now we're far beyond MVP stage, we've had LOI and traction from users, it seems that we do not require additional funding should we still apply for X25 ?
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[ 5.2 ms ] story [ 137 ms ] thread> One of the first questions people ask when we say we are doing a spring batch is what letter we will use to refer to it since “S” is already taken for the summer batch. We considered something like “Sp” or “P” but one founder made the suggestion of using “X” since it's a common variable name in programming and thus makes sense since the name “Y Combinator” itself is a programming term.
This chain of reasoning seems totally disconnected? "While trying to come up with a single letter to denote spring, since S was taken, we decided on... a common variable name instead" ??? what happened to denoting spring in there? Am I missing some clever reference? Is spring in particular the season for common variables?
The spring constant (in physics) is denoted by the letter "k", why not use that? I know its not programming, but at least it denotes spring.
(As a fun fact, Spanish has decided to use X for Wednesday because both Wednesday and Tuesday start with the same letter, M: https://www.20minutos.es/cultura/blogs/yaestaellistoquetodol...)
Consensus is not arbitrary either, that's a strong reason, a lack of arbitrary-ness. Even the second definition of arbitrary, something done unilaterally, is contra-consensus.
X is jut plain boring because there's nothing theoritical behind it.
In MTG the 5 colors are white, blue, black, red, and green. WUBRG. B is already taken by black (bla > blu) so blue became U. Hence in my head logic spring should have been G (technically sp > su but no point to change summer’s S after decades)
"What batch were you?"
"X25"
"What does X stand for?"
"Oh yeah haha, its a clever programming reference, it actually means spring, but S was taken by summer, so they used X instead because its a common variable name."
We live in a bizarre yet tumultuous time.
251 for winter 252 for spring 253 for summer 254 for fall
Come connect with other ambitious founders and gain insights from the YC alumni
Date: Feb 6
Time: 6:30 PM
RSVP here: https://lu.ma/lwdw64cn
See you there!
I hope you checked this back with Elon.
The "F" batches are a bit confusing due to the YC Fellowships eons ago whichd I recall were prefixed with "F" as well.
The main thing is to be able to demonstrate progress since the previous application, which it sounds like you can. Good luck!